**

  *Haiji

  The Gate was barely 6 feet in height and 4 feet in breath, which meant it was an extremely low-Grade Gate; normally the size of Gate doesn’t literally determine the potential threats it holds and the type of Gate it is.

  People, especially those from the slums don’t really care about the integrity or bases of rumors or hearsay; for decades Mercenary-Guards have brought back with stories of Gates and Aggressors, the once that manage to face higher gates beyond D-Grade Gates, spread stories of how much bigger the upper Gates are compared to the lower Gates and the possible types of Arcane-being that inhabit it; based on the time it takes for the Gate to form, the shade of color - green, of the vines, the area which they spring from… All sorts of rubbish that regular punk-heads believe, that is completely or partly false.

  The only reason why most people from ghetto still believe fuckin' rumors like ‘the bigger the size of the Gate the higher the Grade’ or ‘Gates least than 7 feet are E-Grade Gates’ is because people who aren’t Evolves can’t perceive the Power-Grade of Arcane being in general.

  So when they stupidly to face unknown Aggressors in a newly sprung up Gate; either they encounter extremely dangerous Aggressor(s) and they all die brutal death with no one to debunk false ways on how to know the Grade of Gates, or they encounter weak Aggressors which are basically F and E Grade, they survive and continue to believe the false information they were told, then continue spread horse shit as the truth.

  The funny thing is no Mercenary-Guard from the slums will ever open his or her mouth about stuffs like this, unless you are paying a decent amount of coins to let the river run, basically Mercenary-Guards keep their coins and weapons to their chest, but their information closer.

  I have been entering Gates since like I was 13... maybe 14 years, and no one has ever given me any useful shit of information about Gate (maybe except from Daigo), the things I know are either basic knowledge gotten from experience in those freaking Gate; just like every other Guards in the streets or from the TV on the train I take.

  Most people ignore the programs because it’s was about how much the society is suffering, how this Gate outbreak or that military expenditure will cost things to go higher in the market… It’s just basic mainstream news.

  We from the gutters live a much harsher live; getting almost nothing from the Towers, government or anyone, we basically fend for our damn selves, yet none of those shit is on the news…. Funny.

  In spite of all that, I do find some things they say about Gates and Arcane-beings to be useful; that why I listen and watch the program… (That and I just watch out of boredom sometimes).

  So we started hearing shouts and gunshots close to us, it has barely been 4 minutes, yet the multiple of humans that have enter were like 80 of close to that number, and those gunshots are definitely from gangster; telling people to clear a path for them to reach here quickly.

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  I and Daigo quickly gathered our shit and moved immediately, because firstly, different gangs will approach this place and will definitely clash for who ‘owns’ the Gate or if they don’t fight about that, some gangs will wait outside and try to ambush people and other gangs, to steal the elixirs they brought out the Gate. It will be a blood bath.

  Secondly, I’m positive that a drone from either The Black Dragon or Thor Tower or even both will be here soon.

  By that time, we had given the Gate some good distance, yet the gunshots intensified, screams and battle cries could heard from this distance.

  When we reached a store under a broken bridge in the northern parts of Sumiyoshi, we finally stopped to catch our breath.

  “Was…it seriously a must to… get this far away” I had to ask Daigo, since I didn’t stop running when I noticed he didn’t, after he repeated turned his head back to check how far we were from the Gate.

  “It’s a freaking…must, those gangsters might use this to start a fuckin' war… against themselves, enforcers or both, all I’m saying is a lot of people are going to die today… I feel much better our asses… is far away from that shit-storm” Daigo relied as he used his left palm and clean the sweat off his forehead, while trying to catch his breath.

  Soon sirens could be heard, even a helicopter could be spotted from here; surveying the area we just left. Some people around us, pick up whatever they could use as weapons and started running to the direction of the ongoing shoot out.

  “Oi, what the fuck is happening there? Is the Gate big?” An old with seriously scarred and diseased face, wearing rags and nylon bags on his body, asked as he sat on one of the foot of the broken bridge.

  “Why the fuck don’t you go check it out yourself, old fuck” Daigo replied with distain, which the old man responded by spitting on the floor as he looks at Daigo; daring him to do his worst.

  Daigo slowly approach the man, cracking his fists as he walked up to him but I grabbed his left arm and pulled him back, then whispered to his ears “Leave the old hag alone, let’s get out here and do something else”.

  “Yeah, let’s before I spill some old hag’s brain all over the wall” Daigo said staring at the old hobo with a cold glare, walking away with Haiji as he did.

  “Why don’t we go to a place I know to refill the mana in those axes?” Daigo said after taking his eyes off the hobo, and facing me with a smile.

  “I will pay for the refill and the sharpening of the axes” Daigo said as he wrapped his arm around my neck, then continued “Think of it as my way of making it to you for that shit that went down at Sweet-Sake”.

  “You don’t need to pay for everything, you can pay for half of it” I suggested since it did not really sit well with me for Daigo to pay for everything because it wasn’t really his fault that the old hag from the Sweet-Sake robbed me and I couldn’t do anything.

  “Nah, you need more coin than I do. Have you forgotten that you like 11 days to pay up to those guys your father owned money too” Daigo commented.

  “He owned money to a lot of people, he just owned them a little bit more” I responded, trying to avoid him feeling any need for giving coins he desperately needs.

  “270,000,000 isn’t ‘a little bit more’, that kind of money is what your next generation and their next generation will continue to pay… They basically owned you, the coin you pay them is just to stop them from beating the shit out of you or your family or even doing much more worst things” Daigo spat out, then waited a bit to see if I will say anything but how could I say anything; everything is true.

  Then he continued “I will pay for sharpening and refilling your weapons, at least I will reduce the chances of them beating the shit out of you when they come to collect”.

  “What of that your cousin, have you paid him his cut for getting you that gig?” I said, because if Daigo got out that Gate late night and carried Eiji back to my apartment, on his way there to tell my family of my death.

  He hasn’t go back home and all the time we spend walking around, his cousin will definitely be waiting for him to come home and give him his cut for landing a gig for Daigo.

  “That ratshit will get his cut when I return, and that can be anytime. You don’t have to worry” Daigo said, dismissing it like it wasn’t something but I kind of feel he is lying.